“Faced with the choice of running as an unapologetic Democrat in a state trending toward his party or keeping his distance from Washington in the fashion of a generation of Southern Democrats, Creigh Deeds tried to do both.”

That’s the dilemma Democrats here – from the legislature to the Senate – will face next year.

Traditional pro-business Democrats – like the current Senate leadership – will argue that the path to victory is the same here as it’s been since 1976: down the middle of the road.

Younger, more liberal Democrats will say no, the party must excite the young voters and minority voters who carried North Carolina for Obama in 2008.